Op-Ed: Liberal Democrats' Crisis Factory

David Axelrod famously said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Problem is, liberal Democrats seem to like crises so much they're making their own. Not so much that there are crises, but because there is so much to gain by it. And it is hurting America.

"Never let a crisis go to waste." So says David Axelrod, senior advisor to President Obama. Interpreted literally, that statement is actually a positive one politically speaking. Dealing coolly with political crises as opportunities to improve government and society is a far better approach for politicians than dealing with crisis situations in panic mode. It also gives the appearance that government officials are working hard on the problem in confidence, which then gives the American people confidence in their government's ability to deal with said problems.

The problem is, liberal Democrats in both the White House and Congress today appear to be so addicted to political crises they're manufacturing them at every turn. Why? Simple answer. If a crisis atmosphere can be successfully created around an issue where none existed before, it makes it that much easier to scare and cajole the American people to support major bills like ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade in the same rash and chaotic fashion in which they were created. In short, they are manufacturing political crises in order to achieve their political ends.

An agitated populace is far more likely to demand action where a crisis is perceived. Look around America. What is not a crisis to liberal Democrats? ObamaCare? That's a full-blown crisis. If we don't pass the bill, millions will die because they lacked insurance coverage. Some liberal Democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson have even gone so far as to compare the "health care crisis" to the Holocaust, conveniently blaming Republicans for the stacks of uninsured corpses piling up as we refuse to act. Is that realistic? Especially given the fact that the 1986 Emergency Treatment Act mandates emergency medical services to all? Or that Medicare and Medicaid already cover huge swaths of the poor, disabled, elderly and even illegals?

Now let's look at Global Warming. We must act to take drastic measures in taxing and regulating business and individuals into the Stone Age in order to keep the planet from burning up. Yet despite the fact that the underlying data and science has been found to be fatally flawed and politically corrupted, never mind all that. The science is settled. We have a crisis on our hands. We must act fast to save the planet! Hurry, or we'll all die! Pass Cap-and-Trade NOW!

Raising the crisis levels of ObamaCare and Cap-And Trade even higher, liberal Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi have branded peaceful opponents of ObamaCare as "swastika-wavers" and "political terrorists," thereby manufacturing a real crisis where none existed before by declaring citizens in opposition exercising their First Amendment rights as dangers to society. That is the hallmark of fascists. The same has occurred with Global Warming and Cap-and-Trade. You cannot be a skeptic without being a heretic and denier. Rep. Henry Waxman declared AGW skeptics "un-American." That is McCarthyism, not science.

If the stress levels of Americans were already high over extreme unemployment, skyrocketing debt and the proposed trillion-dollar boondoggles that would hand the entire health care and energy sectors over to government control, and how those seizures would affect their finances, liberties, privacy and other aspects of their lives, being branded as political terrorists or "anti-science" heretics merely for being in political or scientific opposition is only exacerbating the problem. It places a majority of Americans who oppose both bills in direct and hostile confrontation with their elected representatives and governments. Is that America?

Contrary to liberal Democrat opinion, the majority of Americans are fully informed and aware of all the political, regulatory and financial implications of the ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade bills. That's why most Americans reject both out of hand. We just had a seven-hour round table on the subject of ObamaCare, and the issue of Cap-and-Trade has been hotly debated ever since all the ClimateGate and IPCC scandals have broken. Confidence in the "science" of Global Warming theory is shaken to its foundations. But that isn't keeping the liberal Democrat crisis manufacturers from trying to panic-mode Cap-and-Trade into law.

But are they really crises? And are expanded government, bloated bureaucracies and higher taxes the solutions? If you look at the one bill liberal Democrats have passed as a "crisis" measure, the $787B Stimulus bill, it has been a financial and political disaster. Liberal Democrats went into crisis mode and told us that if we did not act now, millions of jobs could be lost and unemployment would reach double digits. Yet that is exactly what happened even with the bill's passage. Government officials tell us that 2 million jobs have been saved or created among the eight million lost. Not exactly a resounding success if true. And now liberal Democrats want to do the exact same thing again. Got a crisis on our hands, don't you know.

So not only have the most dire predictions come true even with the Stimulus bill, We The People are now out $787B on top of it all. The political graft and corruption that has emerged from elements of the Stimulus bill has also shaken the American people's confidence in this government's ability to solve major problems. Such corruption has also been evident in the crafting of the ObamaCare bill, with the backroom sweetheart deals for select senators, states and labor unions. Americans have to wonder. If the Stimulus bill was such a disaster after being told we must act now or suffer the direst of consequences (all of which have come to fruition even with the bill's passage), what does that portend for the ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade bills, of which we are being given all the same ominous warnings by liberal Democrats if we don't act right now?

Americans have enough today to keep their stress levels high: the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, a deficit percentage that would have driven any business into bankruptcy years ago, and uncertainty of the future. That future becomes even less certain as Americans see their government not only trying to seize major swaths of the economy in ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade, but imposing even more burdens on a people already suffering greatly in an economic depression. Not to mention the fact that liberal Democrats consider their political opponents enemies of the state. Those are crises we don't need, and the American people have been both consistent and vehement in their opposition to both.

If there is a huge reset button in Washington, it needs to pressed now. The crisis factory has to be shut down. If a bill cannot win public support on its merits, issuing dire warnings and threats doesn't work. It only jacks up the stress levels, hardens public opposition and adds to the uncertainty of the future for far too many Americans who are already suffering severe financial hardships. It might also occur to liberal Democrats, if they weren't in crisis mode all the time, that the proposed ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade legislation is stifling job creation by placing that same future uncertainty on business, especially small businesses. Who is going to hire in this economy, when they know they could be staring down huge jackups in energy and medical costs, and draconian taxes and regulations that could kill their businesses?

Ironically, the one real and true pending disaster in the world is exceedingly low on liberal Democrats' crisis radar: the nuclearization of the world's leading state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and all that portents. What are they doing about it? This situation has dragged on for years without resolution, yet liberal Democrats seem content to stumble into Armageddon willfully blind to the dire situation in Iran. I guess they have too many more important manufactured crises on their hands to be bothered with real ones. As for me, I'm far more concerned about Iranian nukes getting into the hands Iran's terrorist proxies than health care or Global Warming. If only liberal Democrats shared my concerns on this very real crisis.

We The People elect our public officials to steer the ship of state through the calmest waters possible, and weather the storms as we encounter them. Yet liberal Democrats seem intent on piloting the ship of state into political maelstroms of their own making, hoping that the turbulent waters will jar the American people into submission through fear. That is no way to run a government. The issues before us need to be debated and resolved coolly, calmly, sensibly and in true bipartisan fashion, not in hostile partisan panic mode.

Sensible solutions to societal problems lie in the center, not through generated crises at the political extremes. It also doesn't help that ordinary Americans are being turned on politically by their own government. Liberal Democrats need to wise up. They're already facing disaster at the polls in November. They need to engage with the opposition party and the American people on the issues, not treat them like the enemy and retreat behind closed doors to cut shady deals out of the public eye. It is harming society and America's political mental health in ways they can't even fathom. If they don't smarten up, they face a major political crisis of their own in November. Should the situation remain unchanged, like most Americans I will not be sad to see them go. I will in fact be extremely happy to see them take their many crises with them out of office. Living in constant crisis mode is no way to live, at least for most reasonable Americans.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com